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We’ve all heard of the amazing things parrots can do – whether it can be bad or good, it’s always guaranteed to rouse a laugh out of anyone who hears it! Of course, the most famous feat parrots have accomplished so far is the ability to mimic human speech (even if it does pick up the bad parts of it…). But apparently, parrots have recently adapted a shadier hobby of doing drugs – specifically, opium.

The phenomenon was first reported in 2015 when parrots from a place near Chittorgarh, India plundered farmers’ poppy fields. This resulted in reduced harvests and warnings from the Indian government’s narcotics department, which controls their opium farming. Video cameras were placed to try to figure out the cause, and it reveals the elusive druggie parrots that actually learned how to fly very, very silently and not let one tiny squawk out of their mouths to effectively steal the opium out of the poppy pods that workers open without anyone noticing. Then, to hide from the workers and get high in peace, they retreat to high (haha) branches to feast on their drugged plants. They even sometimes stagger, confusedly circle around the trees, and occasionally fall out, dead, because of overdose in their drug-induced high! Sounds like that one stoner you always see on the street intersection!

But not everybody was laughing their butts off when they realized this hilarious phenomenon. Unfortunately, for the farmers, they lose about 10% of their crops (10% less money! Oh no!) and they get those foreboding warnings from the Indian government’s narcotics department, as mentioned before. More farmers are becoming worried about the druggie parrots, as they are spreading to other regions of India now, on the hunt for their next opium fix. But they just can’t keep those strangely persistent parrots away. Farmers have even resorted to firecrackers, beating tin drums, and hurling stones (much to the chagrin of their neighbors) to hopefully scare away the parrots, but even that did not work!

This phenomenon is still being studied as more and more reports of it roll in. No one knows why the parrots have selected getting high off of opium as their choice hobby, but we do know that it is causing a bit of a (albeit HILARIOUS) problem! As the opium addicted parrots continue to make dents in the poppies to get their fix, they leave farmers confused and slightly frustrated. Hopefully, other animals don’t catch on to this really high (haha x2) trend! Kraemer Middle School 8th grader Emily D. seems to think so: “I think it’s already weird enough that there are parrots trying to get high. I wonder what will happen if other ones do, too….”